A Broad Spectrum Catalytic System for Removal of Toxic Organics from Water by Deep Oxidation - Final Report
A most pressing need for the DOE environmental management program is the removal of toxic organic compounds present in groundwater and soil at specific DOE sites. While several remediation procedures have been proposed, they suffer from one or more drawbacks. The objective of the present research was to develop new catalytic procedures for the removal of toxic organic compounds from the environment through their deep oxidation to harmless products. In water, metallic palladium was found to catalyze the deep oxidation of a wide variety of toxic organic compounds by dioxygen at 80-90 C in the presence of carbon monoxide or dihydrogen. Several classes of organic compounds were examined: benzene, phenol and substituted phenols, nitro and halo organics, organophosphorus, and organosulfur compounds. In every case, deep oxidation to carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and water occurred in high yields, resulting in up to several hundred turnovers over a 24 hour period. For substrates susceptible to hydrogenation, the conversions were generally high with dihydrogen than with carbon monoxide. It is clear from the results obtained that we have discovered an exceptionally versatile catalytic system for the deep oxidation of toxic organic compounds in water. This system possesses several attractive features not found simultaneously in other reported systems. These are (a) the ability to directly utilize dioxygen as the oxidant, (b) the ability to carry out the deep oxidation of a particularly wide range of functional organics, and (c) the ease of recovery of the catalyst by simple filtration.
- Research Organization:
- Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG07-96ER14694
- OSTI ID:
- 775367
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/ER/14694; Project Number 54122; Project Number 54122; TRN: AH200129%%201
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 1 Dec 2000
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Broad spectrum catalytic system for the deep oxidation of toxic organics in aqueous medium using dioxygen as the oxidant
A broad spectrum catalytic system for removal of toxic organics from water by deep oxidation. Annual progress report, September 15, 1996--September 14, 1997